REACTION TO ROYAL COLLEGE OF NURSING (RCN) CALL FOR MEDICAL CANNABIS TO BE DECRIMINALISED

The End Our Pain campaign warmly welcomes the bold and decisive move of the RCN at their May 2018 conference to support decriminalisation of cannabis for medical use on the basis that patients should be allowed to take the drug to reduce pain or control symptoms. The conference backed the view that it is inhumane to have people suffering when there is something available that can help.

This move intensifies the unstoppable momentum for change amongst medical professionals and politicians alike. The UK Government’s position that cannabis has no medical benefit flies in the face of the growing body of evidence to the contrary and is becoming untenable. Over 40 countries worldwide have some form of legal access to cannabis for medical use. The Liberal Democrats, SNP, Plaid Cymru, the Green Party and a number of MPs from other Parties all now support a change in the law.
People benefitting from medical cannabis are patients, not criminals and should be treated as such. As well as the medical benefit of medical cannabis for patients, we share the RCN’s view that legalising access to cannabis for medical use would protect patients from disreputable dealers and prevent them being treated as criminals.